Ragtime compositions on piano rolls--Scott Joplin 
         (1900s) 
         Added to the National Registry:  2002 
         Essay by Larry C. Melton (guest post)* 
          
          
                                                
                                   Scott Joplin 
          
         It is fitting that the seven piano rolls Joplin made a year before his death, were among the first 
         recordings chosen for inclusion in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.  
          
         Ragtime is often considered to be America’s first truly popular music and there is also an 
         important claim that it is our first classical music as well.  Scott Joplin is usually considered the 
         major ragtime composer based on the quality of his compositions and, specifically, his “Maple 
         Leaf Rag,” first published in Sedalia, Missouri (1899).  There are no known audio recordings by 
         Joplin. 
          
         By April of 1916, Scott Joplin only had one more year to live.  He was desperately trying to 
         maintain both his legacy and his livelihood as his mind and body struggled against the 
         debilitating effects of syphilis.   
          
         The seven piano rolls likely reflect an effort to extract some income during this period.   
         According to ragtime historian Bill Edwards, “Maple Leaf Rag” (1899) and “Magnetic Rag” 
         (1914) were recorded in April 1916 at a Connorized studio with a marking master and then later 
         punched.  The following month, “Weeping Willow” (1903), “Something Doing” (1903), and 
         “Pleasant Moments” (1909) were cut.  In June, “Ole Miss Rag” by W.C. Handy, was made and 
         in June, Joplin also recorded “Maple Leaf Rag” again on a Uni-Record label, punched master. 
          
         In his lifetime, “Maple Leaf Rag” was not only Scott Joplin’s most popular composition, it had 
         made him famous.  His publishers were fond of referring to him as the “King of Ragtime 
         Writers.”  In Sedalia, he was known as the “Entertainer.” 
          
         Scott Joplin was born near Texarkana, Texas, about 1867.  He was educated there, and his 
         mother had him take piano instruction from Julius Weiss, a local German piano teacher.  Joplin 
      left home as a teenager, itinerantly performing and publishing some early compositions as he 
      traveled the country.  He attended the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago and, by the mid-
      1890s, he was in Sedalia, Missouri, and furthering his musical education at the George R. Smith 
      College there.  A local publisher, John Stark, had the wisdom to sign a royalty contract with 
      Joplin for the “Maple Leaf Rag” in 1899 at his Sedalia store. 
       
      Stark moved to St. Louis in 1900 and Joplin followed him within a few months and continued 
      composing.  Joplin married in 1904 but lost his young wife to pneumonia just two months later. 
      Stark and Joplin moved to New York around 1907 and Joplin soon became consumed with 
      publishing and then having his opera “Treemonisha” performed. 
       
      By 1916, Joplin had married his second wife, Lottie Stokes Joplin.  He had just spent a 
      frustrating year promoting his opera without success.  It had all been part of his quest to produce 
      serious music to fulfill his ambition to become a European-style American classical composer.  
      In fact, there is serious speculation that he had also produced a symphony and piano concerto in 
      his final years of life but these compositions have never been located. 
       
      Much has been written about Joplin’s piano roll recordings.  It is speculated that all but the 
      Aeolian Uni-Record “Maple Leaf Rag” issue were probably heavily edited after Joplin cut the 
      original master.  In fact, well-known piano roll historian Douglas Henderson, has proposed that 
      all of the Connorized rolls were actually cut and edited by staff arranger, William Axlmann.  
      Joplin biographer Ed Berlin, however, suggests that Axlmann likely edited Joplin’s masters since 
      parts of the recordings are not physically possible to be played by just one performer. 
       
      Thus, the final Uni-Record version is likely the most accurate reflection of Joplin’s keyboard 
      ability.  Unfortunately, it is poorly played as Joplin’s deteriorating motor skills undoubtedly 
      impacted his performance.  Joplin had enjoyed the reputation for being a good pianist, especially 
      when playing his own compositions, something that is not fully evident on this roll.   
       
      When discussing piano roll play-back quality, authorities are always concerned with the impact 
      of the play-back speed on tempo.  After 1905, Joplin was known for printing, “Do not play this 
      piece fast.  It is never right to play ragtime fast,” on his published sheet music.  However, this 
      admonition is frequently ignored as Joplin obviously did on the Uni-Record roll.  In addition, 
      Joplin takes unusual liberties with his compositions in recording six of the seven rolls.  The 
      speeds the actual equipment used to make the piano rolls is also variable and the Connorized 
      rolls by 1916 even had a disclaimer that play-back speeds might need to be adjusted.  When 
      Mike Montgomery helped Arnie Caplin record the Biograph series of piano roll records in the 
      1970s, Mike was meticulously careful to adjust the play-back speed of each recording based on 
      his extensive experience with Joplin’s music. 
       
      As for the selection of the pieces Joplin recorded, “Maple Leaf Rag” was an obvious choice. 
      “Magnetic Rag” had likely been his last rag published and it reflected his aspiration to produce 
      genuine classical music.  “Weeping Willow” may have been chosen for its emotional quality 
      while “Something Doing” was a lighter, cake-walk style two-step, co-written with Scott Hayden.  
      “Pleasant Moments” is a waltz more heavily syncopated.  Collectively, these rolls are a good 
      cross section of Joplin’s ragtime style and classical greatness. 
        The reason Joplin made the piano roll of “Ole Miss Rag,” written by W.C. Handy, has long been 
        a mystery, and Handy affords no clue in his autobiography.  However, a 1952 letter to Charles 
        Hanna, at the “Great Falls Montana Tribune,” indicates that Handy had great respect and 
        appreciation for Joplin’s genius and thus may have asked the great ragtime composer to make the 
        piano roll. 
         
        Handy may have been acquainted with Joplin in Sedalia while Handy was performing with 
        Mahara’s Minstrels in September 1899, less than a month after “Maple Leaf Rag” was published. 
        The two composers may have also met in New York after Handy arrived there in 1915. 
         
        We have very few actual documents or artifacts directly associated with Scott Joplin.  Only a few 
        signatures and annotations bear his handwriting and only three known photographs exist.  Thus, 
        the seven piano rolls attributed to him are perhaps our best material reminders of America’s great 
        composer. 
         
        In 1974, at the first Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, America’s second and 
        third generation ragtime performers gathered with their admirers where Joplin had performed 70 
        plus years before.  There were many exciting experiences during that festival, but a climactic 
        moment came in a concert dedicated to Joplin’s music.  Richard Zimmerman, the artistic director, 
        had the house darkened and a single spotlight lit a lone piano on the stage.  After a brief silence, 
        the old piano began playing Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” piano roll.  When the last note sounded, 
        the audience was stunned to silence and then erupted in gales of cheering applause.  For those 
        few moments, the “Entertainer” had once more enthused an audience from the tiny holes in a roll 
        of paper now forever enshrined in our National Recording Registry. 
         
         
        Larry Melton was founder of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri; it continues 
        to this day.  Melton also curates the Sedalia Ragtime Archive which began, in 1976, around his 
        collection and he conducts research and writes on Sedalia history and ragtime topics.  He 
        currently lives in Union, Missouri and has been retired 18 years from his career as a community 
        college history teacher.  
         
        *The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Library 
        of Congress.